RCAHMS and collecting images of sheep grazing on the Meadows…

On the 25^th of April I went on the Career Development Group (Scottish Division) visit to RCAHMS (Royal Commission on the Ancient and  Historical Monuments of Scotland).

We assembled in the Search Room (the main public access space for consultation and searching) where we were talked through what RCAHMS do (their brief), and the size, breadth and variety of what is a massive collection used by a very large and diverse audience.

RCAHMS Role

RCAHMS has a statutory role to record changes in the landscape, the built environment and archaeology.  This role is active as well as passive, they go out physically and map, photograph, record new content, as well as storing, preventative conservation and making available what they already have.  This could be exteriors or interiors, it could be a building that is threatened, going to disappear if a planning permission goes through, something iconic and new.  It might relate to maritime sites, industry, archaeology, domestic architecture… Images cover everything from urban bus stops to thatched cottages on tiny islands.



The Search Room



THe Collection

The collection has built up over a long time and from a lot of sources so it is inevitably inconsistent and fairly Edinburgh heavy proportionately overall with most material being Scottish. But there are also lots of overseas material on certain things. The bulk of the collection is 19^th – 21^st century and covers everything from books to photo albums. Individual photos within books indeed might all be catalogued separately.

The shelfmark system is somewhat idiosyncratic, a lot items are arranged by size and accession number, imposing hierarchical classification is difficult on such a vast collection and many items are still uncatalogued. Thus RCHAMS is made up of over 120 staff from very different disciplines from archaeologists to archivists.

Working with Other Bodies

They work with bodies with objectives that complement their own work such as Historic Scotland and National Trust for Scotland and with their own direct counterparts in other nations. As a Royal Commission they are a neutral body, and one which is currently subject to being reviewed.

Changes in Tecnhology

The technology they use to record changes to the environment and built environment have changed, aerial photos are now all digital, lot of emphasis on 3D technology that can allow ‘fly-through’ experience rather than a flat photo.  This is all expensive but gives a more accurate record and a better impression as it allows users to zoom in on certain area’s and chose how they wish to view.  2D aerial photo’s go back to the 1920s.



Search Room shelves detail



Use of Collections - Physical

A few thousand visitors come in physically over a year, but there is also massive use of the website. Physically there is the Search Room, the Print Room, various stores for things like the negatives room. RCAHMS is open to the public Tuesday – Friday standard opening hours with Monday’s reserved for Group visits. Everything in the Search Room on open shelves is replaceable copies, and several times a day they bring in material requested from off-site stores and elsewhere in building requested by people within and over the website.

RCAHMS try and promote the collection as much as possible e.g participate in Doors Open Day.

Use of collections - Digital

With millions of hits worldwide a lot of concentration of time, energy and resource has gone on enhancing online access mechanisms and content and promoting the collection over social media etc. More and more content is being put on.

Research can be conducted into buildings and places and how they have changed and adapted over time. So for a building there may be photos, layouts, plans. They also have historic maps. For an archaeological site, drawings and photos from the dig.  All these types of images are useful for professionals from different fiends, academics doing research, local historians.



pc access to databases in Search Room



The Databases

The Canmore database on the website has over one million items on it and focuses on Scotland’s built heritage, it has everything from photo albums to aerial survey photographs related to sites and locations. Records vary in detail but there is great depth to many bringing together through the record various different types of material held by RCAHMS.

There are also other databases covering e.g. Aerial Reconaissance Archives (wartime photos from lots of western Europe and Africa), the National Collection of Aerial Photography… 

RCAHMS also holds collections on behalf of other organisations e.g. Northern Lighthouse Board, they manage SCRAN (copyright-cleared images database for educational use)…

Other uses of images

A lot of the images that RCHAMS holds can also be ordered by the public, the cost and any licensing will depend on the usage intended for the image.  The images are also used by RCHAMS themselves to produce prints for publication, websites. Copyright is difficult however as lots if items they have been unable to provenance, in which case not on any electronic database.  Google Analytics is used to get statistics for Canmore (who is using what from where, what does that tell them about ways collections are used).  

The public can also contribute images and comments, 20,000 images have been added this way and 1,200 comments thus far.  This can be additional information but it also has issues around moderation, tagging, adding images into the collection in a cohesive manner. Certain organisations are allowed to upload images direct into Canmore, the rest will be moderated. Plans to move the RCAHMS Flickr channel into Canmore for instance and experimenting with other forms of social media.

 A Useful Afternoon

It was really interesting to get a feel for the sheer vast range and volume of material kept by RCAHMS and how it's made accessible and added to. A good afternoon out!